It's always something that stuck in our craw, like in this blog piece : The New York 1% takeout hike to fix the NYCOTB system was still in effect when there were no NYCOTB's.
It made little sense to us, and we wondered why.
Even on chat boards like Paceadvantage when it happened, bettors knew the 1% hike was supposed to expire and be repealed in two years, citing the appropriate section of the statute (click to enlarge):
What happened? I assume we'll find out after they conduct an investigation, because today it was announced NYRA should have lowered takeout, but didn't.
They'll have to pay back all the money, plus (what I assume is) interest.
The state Racing & Wagering Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to admonish the New York Racing Association for overcharging bettors millions of dollars over the past 15 months.
The action happened at a board meeting after racing officials discovered NYRA overcharged by 1 percentage point the amount it kept from some "exotic" bets.
NYRA, which runs races for the state at the Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga thoroughbred tracks, will be required to pay back bettors about $8.6 million, according to one state official, if it can track them down through racing accounts. It will also have to help clear up IRS issues with those who won exotic bets during the period. Further, NYRA will be required to pay a $50,000 contribution to a racing-related charity.
Anyhow, for those of you wondering how a two year takeout hike to pay for OTB's was still going on when there were no OTB's, you weren't the only one. The mystery, for now, is solved.
What the future holds, is, I assume, a whole other matter.
2 comments:
Someone must have photos. NYRA has shown years of malfeasence and yet they continut to operate NY's big three thoroughbred tracks.
It is nice that the NYSRWB, admonishes NYRA. When is someone going to have to answer for these things?
The NYSRWB is more at fault than NYRA in this situation. The ultimate responsibility lies w/ the regulators. Not only did it take them 15 months to figure it out, they also signed off on countless simulcast contracts that contain the 26% takeout rate. This was missed by a lot of people (NYSRWB, NYRA, H.A.N.A., turf writers, bloggers, and most of all the millions of bettors who knowingly bet into these pools). NYRA's takeout rates are printed in the DRF every race day.
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